🔮 The Future is at Stake in Paris: AI, Sports, and Society 🤖 🏟️

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What You Need to Know About AI This Summer Week

• 🥇 Paris 2024: AI at the Service of Sports Performance  🤖 

• 🥈 Algorithmic Video Surveillance: A Tool for Security or a Threat to Our Freedom? 🕊️

• 🥉 Mass Surveillance: What Future Do We Want? 🤔

Read Time: 4 minutes

AI & OLYMPIC GAMES

The Paris Olympic Games are pioneering the future of AI in sports and mass surveillance.

The Paris 2024 Games, a true showcase of technological innovation, offer a unique sports experience thanks to artificial intelligence. From personalized broadcasting to performance analysis, AI is omnipresent. Simultaneously, an unprecedented security apparatus, employing algorithmic video surveillance (VSA in French), has been deployed to ensure the safety of athletes and spectators. Smart cameras, drones, and geolocation data are being utilized, making this security operation the largest ever conducted in France. Despite ethical concerns raised by this technology, it is presented as essential for safeguarding the event.

AI in Sports

AI is revolutionizing the world of sports and the Olympics, pushing the boundaries of performance and profoundly transforming the experiences of athletes, coaches, and spectators. The AI Agenda for the Olympic Games, an ambitious initiative led by the International Olympic Committee, exemplifies this transformation. Based on five main pillars, this agenda reveals a range of possibilities offered by AI: enhancing athletes' performance, ensuring competition fairness, optimizing Games organization, enriching spectator experiences, and strengthening sports governance.

To better understand how AI is practically applied in sports, watch this video presented by Thomas Bach, IOC President, in Lausanne.

In the following video, Intel's 3DAT technology allows unprecedented precision in tracking athletes' movements, providing coaches with valuable data to optimize training programs and prevent injuries.

A new era seems to be unfolding in sports with the announcement of unprecedented partnerships between sports organizations and technology giants. For instance, Google is the official AI research partner of Team USA. With its Gemini assistant, it can answer fans' questions in real time during competitions. Intel, on the other hand, equips athletes with a chatbot to facilitate their interactions with organizers. These collaborations mark a departure from traditional practices and raise numerous questions, particularly regarding data protection.

Why has protecting Paris and the Olympic Games become so crucial?

It's important to recall that the Paris attacks in 2015 and the Nice attacks in 2016, as well as more recent events such as the murder of a teacher in Arras in 2023, have deeply affected France and Europe. The terrorist attack near Moscow in March 2024, which triggered the "Urgence Attentat" level of the Vigipirate plan, and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July, illustrate a tense international security context. In response to this evolving threat, France has strengthened its security measures, especially in preparation for the Paris Olympic Games.

Security with Algorithmic Video Surveillance (VSA)

The Olympic Games Law outlines 8 typical scenarios or unusual situations to test VSA systems capable of real-time detection and alerting in case of incidents: non-compliance with traffic directions, crossing or presence in a sensitive or prohibited area, crowd movements, overly dense gatherings, abandoned packages, presence or use of weapons, a person on the ground, and fire outbreaks. Reporting unusual events in real time, such as a crowd rushing towards a door or suspicious objects, seems a logical and sensible use of technology to enhance law enforcement responsiveness. The legal framework for using algorithmic video surveillance (VSA) was validated by the Constitutional Council in May 2023 and has been tested experimentally for several months, until March 2025.

Why is it important to me 🦎?

Thirty-eight civil society organizations have raised concerns about the risks of VSA, authorized by Article 7 of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Law. In an open letter, they argue that this technology, although not based on facial recognition, violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by allowing biometric data processing without giving citizens the right to erase their personal data at any time. The use of VSA raises GDPR compliance issues, as it involves analyzing biometric data (posture, gait, etc.), prohibited by Article 9 of the GDPR. Additionally, capturing, storing, and analyzing these data violates the right to erasure guaranteed by Article 7 of the GDPR.

This widespread surveillance, based on biometric data analysis, significantly infringes on the right to privacy.

Amnesty International shares these concerns, highlighting the intrusive nature of AVS and the risk of mass surveillance. Questions regarding the definition of "unusual situations" and the fate of the collected data reinforce these worries.

Where are the Cache 🦎 Cookies 🍪?

The rapid adoption of AVS for surveillance purposes, though driven by legitimate security concerns, raises significant questions about the delicate balance between personal data protection and public order maintenance. The use of such intrusive technology, still in an experimental phase, in a democratic state like France, calls into question the limits and future of mass surveillance.

According to The Conversation, to justify this massive surveillance, the French government has modified its laws and invokes a notion of 'exceptional surveillance.' By allowing private companies to use advanced surveillance technologies, such as drones and cameras, and coordinating efforts from different actors (railway and transportation companies), the State is establishing an omnipresent surveillance system. This delegation of powers to private companies, enabling them to test their AI software on citizens, normalizes a previously exceptional practice.

The massive collection of personal data, without sufficient guarantees regarding its future use, raises serious questions about privacy and fundamental rights. These experimental surveillance systems are deployed without fully assessing the associated risks. The lack of independent testing and transparency regarding the algorithms used makes it difficult to evaluate their reliability and objectivity. The nature of the collected data and its long-term use illustrate these issues perfectly. It is urgent to establish a solid regulatory framework to govern the use of these surveillance systems. Civil society must be closely involved in these discussions to ensure that citizens' interests are considered. The future of surveillance will depend on our ability to reconcile security imperatives with respect for fundamental rights.

📜 WEEKLY QUOTE

According to Statista, never in human history has so much information been shared as today, and forecasts indicate a continuous increase. This massive sharing of personal data is also accompanied by the emergence of new technologies capable of collecting data without individuals' knowledge. (Source: Mass Surveillance Worldwide - Facts and Figures, Statista)

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